(RightWing.org) – Former wide receiver Jacoby Jones has died unexpectedly. The New Orleans native, who played for five different teams in his ten-year career, was just 40 years old. So far his cause of death hasn’t been announced.
Jacoby Rashi’d Jones was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on July 11, 1984. As a junior at the city’s St Augustine High School, he was told the school thought he was too small to play football, but his godfather — who was the assistant principal at Marion Abramson High School, suggested to Jones that he should transfer. He did and earned a place on the football team as well as doing well in both basketball and track. He kept that place despite both the school and his home being flattened by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
After high school, Jones won a track scholarship to Southeastern Louisiana University, but a year later, in 2003, he transferred to Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. There, he played football for the Lane Dragons in the All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for four years. He graduated from Lane in 2009, but he’d already been picked up to play in the NFL by the Houston Texans in the third round of the 2007 draft; he played for them until 2012. However, the team let him go after he bungled a punt against the Baltimore Ravens, leading to his team’s defeat.
From 2012 to 2014 Jones played for the Ravens, including a 2012 Pro Bowl selection. He then went on to the San Diego Chargers briefly, before moving to the Pittsburgh Steelers later in 2015. In 2017, he moved to the National Arena League, playing eight games for the Monterrey Steel. His football career ended in September of that year when he signed a one-day contract with the Ravens and then retired.
Jacoby Jones died unexpectedly at his home in New Orleans on July 14.
Copyright 2024, RightWing.org
